Louis Sheldon: Storyline

So we need one. For some reason the documentaries King of Kong and to a lesser extent Grizzly Man stick out to me as models for this story. But in both of those there is such an obvious conflict they are able to capture.

Until we figure that out, as the editor, I am mostly pulling out interview stuff I like that he says, rather than any actual events/crises/activities he participates in. I need something to drive this. The biggest points of conflict I see in this story as it is, is when hobby turns to science and when passion turns to obsession. Also the dying nature of the hobby, I guess.

Some encyclopedic references to reflect on....

Encyclopedia Britannica: "Shell collecting as it is understood today, in the manner of coin, stamp, and china collecting, is of more recent origin, reaching its apex in England during the late 18th and early and middle 19th centuries. This was the period of the burgeoning Pacific and China trade; new islands were being discovered, and the shells found there were first imported as curiosities, later as specimens for the collectors among the newly rich merchant princes. This period reached its highest point in the 1850s and ’60s, when shell auctions became a common occurrence and relatively high prices were paid for particularly rare and perfect specimens. There followed a period of relative decline, probably because many formerly rare shells suddenly became common as their haunts were discovered and exploited. Nevertheless, shells are so strikingly interesting and beautiful in themselves that the hobby was rapidly revived.




Most collectors tend to specialize, since there are about 100,000 shell species known. Some collectors limit themselves to particular localities. Such specialists frequently contribute valuable scientific data on exact locality and life habits of many mollusks. Some collectors gather only specimens of the single species of a shell that typifies a particular genus. Such a collection is a valuable lesson in taxonomy and evolution and gives an insight into the entire field of conchology, the study of shells.

The equipment of the shell collector includes some sort of tool to scrape away the sand or leaves; a knife to detach rock-clinging mollusks from their perches; a hammer and chisel to remove rock borers from their nests; a sieve to strain out specimens from shallow water; a notebook to record locality and ecological data; and a library of books on shells to aid identification."